A shallow magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck off the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island early Monday afternoon local time, according to a reviewed bulletin from the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicentre was located roughly 208 kilometres west-southwest of Riverton in Southland at a depth of about 10 kilometres. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre and other monitoring networks gave similar readings, placing the tremor in the 6.2–6.3 range. There were no immediate reports of significant damage, injuries or tsunami alerts. New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency said it was assessing the event and advised residents to follow local civil-defence guidance. The country lies on the seismically active Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ and experiences thousands of earthquakes each year, though few are strong enough to be felt widely.